In some of the towns outside of Oaxaca City, men spend considerable time, effort, and money making elaborate costumes for a Day of the Dead festivity called “Battle of the Bands.”

The entire town comes out for a procession, as the local band plays and people dance in the streets.
After each song ends, folks walk a little further down the road until the band starts again and people stop to dance all over again.

The mood is happy and festive, and everyone comes out, from grandmothers to tiny children.

This continues until the throng walks halfway to the next town and meets up with their procession and band! Each group plays louder and louder, vollying back and forth, trying to “beat” the other band…and this goes on until the wee hours of the night.

This is a family oriented, community tradition that virtually everyone takes part in…with a fervor. Witnessing this always ‘leaves me wanting’ for these rich traditions back at home. To fullfill this desire, Mr. E. and I have decided to go down to Tucson next month, to take part in their Dia de los Muertos procession, reported by many to be a stupendous event of this nature.

oh dawn so glad you shared these photographs from oaxaca! i have thought for years about making a trek to tucson for their dia de los muertos procession….so much closer than oaxaca, and we created that dream so many times, maybe tucson is in reach!
so glad you are going…are you participating or watching?